FanHouse AlexAuld

Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.

Rangers 3, Canadiens 1: It was called the most critical regular season game since the lockout for the New York Rangers, and the team responded by picking up a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens, thanks in large part to a pair of goals from captain Chris Drury.

Henrik Lundqvist turned aside 24-of-25 shots to pick up the win, while the Canadiens lost their second game in a row.

Wild 3, Oilers 0: Bruce Ciskie already posted on the details of Marian Gaborik's triumphant return to the Minnesota lineup in its 3-0 win over Edmonton, and to continue the coverage here's some video of the Wild's third goal. Let's just give an assist to the Oilers on this one:



That's just an unfortunate -- and depending on your rooting interests, hilarious -- bounce for the Oilers. Amazingly, it wasn't the only goal a team scored on itself during this weekend's action.

Canadiens 3, Canucks 0: Maybe Montreal should have tried this scandal strategy three weeks ago. Since news broke that the Kostitsyn brothers and Roman Hamrlik might have some connections to gangsters, the Canadiens have put together back-to-back wins, thanks to Tuesday's 3-0 win over Vancouver.

Sure, it's only two games, but when you've been losing as much as the Canadiens have the past three weeks you have to start somewhere. Jaroslav Halak stopped all 34 shots he faced to record his first shutout of the season. For Vancouver, the loss snaps a four game winning streak, as the Canucks currently sit in the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference.

A couple of weeks ago, TSN hockey analyst Gord Miller came to the conclusion that in order for the Pittsburgh Penguins to remain competitive in the NHL, they would have to deal the league's leading scorer, Evgeni Malkin, for a first-line winger, a No. 2 center, and "hopefully" a pick or a prospect. It was a laughable proposal.

On Sunday night, Rob Rossi, Penguins beat writer for the Tribune-Review, appeared on a weekly Pittsburgh talk show and suggested the team would be wise to put Sidney Crosby on the trade block this offseason. I guess this is what happens when you go from being two wins away from hoisting the Stanley Cup to being the No. 10 team in the Eastern Conference in a matter of one season.

The Florida Panthers scored three third period goals, including a game-tying score from Radek Dvorak with 1:38 to play, to force overtime at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Sunday afternoon. Defenseman Andrei Markov, one of four Montreal players voted to start in the All-Star game, scored the lone goal in a shootout helping lead the Canadiens to a 6-5 win.

The Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to goals from Brett McLean and David Booth, only to have Montreal come out in the second period and take over the game, scoring four goals -- including a pair in the first two minutes of the period -- while outshooting the Panthers by a 19-5 margin.

Florida rebounded in the final frame with goals from Dvorak (two) and Jassen Cullimore, sending the game to overtime. .

As long as we're on the subject of the Panthers, Greg Wyshnyski over at Puck Daddy passes along the report (from George Richards of the Miami Herald) that Brett McLean thinks Sidney Crosby is a liar, and that no challenge was ever issued prior to the drop of the puck in Saturday's game. So, basically, it's all coming down to a bunch of he said, she said. Moving on ...

Calgary's Michael Cammalleri picked up a hat trick on Thursday night, helping lead the Flames to 4-3 win in Vancouver. Jarome Iginla assisted on two of Cammalleri's goals, while Curtis Glencross picked up the game-winning goal with just under seven-minutes to play in regulation, breaking a 3-3 tie.

For Cammalleri, it was his first career hat trick, and his first multiple-goal game as a member of the Flames.

Darcy Hordichuk, Daniel Sedin and Mason Raymond scored for the Canucks, while Curtis Sanford took the loss filling in for the injured Roberto Luongo, as he surrendered four goals on 33 shots. Miikka Kiprusoff picked up the win for Calgary -- its fourth win in the past five games -- as he turned aside 27-of-30 shots.

There are a lot of big names still on the board through the early stages of free agency today. The one position that there's been no shortage of movement at? Goalie. Goalies are changing teams left and right today and the effects of some of the moves are going to be pretty wide-ranging. Let's take a look at some of the moves that have taken place and what they might mean. All of the exhaustive contract details are via TSN.

Jose Theodore to the Capitals- It's a two-year, $9 million deal and Eric's got the details below. Theodore did seem to regain some of his form this past year with the Avalanche, but he melted down in the playoffs against the Red Wings while suffering from a bad case of the flu. He'll probably give the Caps an upgrade over what Olie the Goalie was giving them earlier in the year, but he won't carry them the way Huet did down the stretch last year. And $4.5 million seems like a lot of money for a guy that just might be washed up, doesn't it?

Cristobal Huet to the Blackhawks- With a ton of moneyalready tied up in Nikolai Khabibulin (~$7 million a year), the 'Hawks are now paying Huet $5.635 a year as well. Huet's an upgrade over what the Blackhawks have, for sure, but I'm trying to wrap my mind around paying more than $12 million a year for their top two goalies.

More goalie moves after the jump.

We're near the quarter point of this fine NHL season, so let's have a peek at some statistical odds and ends, trends, and other useless information you can impress your co-workers with.

While no coach would have much of a reason to put Jamal Mayers on the power-play, it's quite amazing that Mayers has played 532 NHL games and never had a single goal with the man advantage (63 career goals in that time). Not one! Even Donald Brashear, a man with far less offensive skill, has four power-play goals in his 'distinguished' career.

Are the refs asleep on Long Island? The New York Islanders have both the least amount of power-play opportunities for (67) and against (69). Meanwhile, the Ducks have the second most power-plays with 107 and most against with 111. So much for that laid-back West Coast mentality.

When the Detroit Red Wings won a Stanley Cup with Chris Osgood as their #1 goaltender many moons ago, many opined (including myself) that Osgood was, perhaps, the worst #1 goalie of a Cup winner, ever. This season, the Wings are rolling, despite having not getting good goaltending. With Osgood filling in for Dominik Hasek, who is injured again, the Wings have the 5th worst save percentage with 89.3%, but still have a 14-5-1 record. Go figure.

Ed Belfour, who managed to hold down the Florida Panthers #1 goaltending job at the age of 42, thinks he deserves a nice pay hike.

Florida Panthers goalie Ed Belfour said Friday that he wants more money. He would like to sign another one-year contract with the Panthers, but if it doesn't work out, Belfour, 42, is confident he can be a starter somewhere else in the NHL.

"I'm definitely a No 1 goalie," Belfour said. "I'm motivated to come back and be the No. 1 guy. I think my health is there."

Belfour believes he is worth considerably more now that he has proved his durability. He earned a base salary of $750,000 last season as part of an incentive-laden deal.

"My base was low because I had back surgery," Belfour said. "Throughout my career, my base was a lot higher. . . . I proved that I was durable and I'm not going to play for that kind of money this year, that's for sure."

Ahh, talk about living in the past. Of course he was worth more!! Eddie, you USED to be young, spry, and a great goaltending.

Now? Not so much ...

Yes, Belfour did better than Bald Alex Auld, putting up a 90.2SV% compared to Auld's cringe-inducing 88.8% mark. Yes, Belfour was a bargain at $750,000 for a 50+ game goaltender, but how does he think he'll get more elsewhere?

Fact: Belfour's SV% was still 31st among qualified goaltenders. Given that there are 30 NHL teams, Belfour is not going to be an improvement in many other places.

Fact: Belfour is 42, has a creaky back, and isn't getting any younger, more agile, or healthier.

Fact: Belfour is a belligerent drunk who parties way too often and gets himself in trouble with the police. Not many teams want to put up with the off-ice problems Eddie is bound to have.

If the Panthers aren't willing to give him a raise, Belfour will be very fortunate to get $750,000 and a position from any other NHL club. Whatever Belfour thinks of his self-worth, he'd be smart not to alienate himself from the Panthers, who might be the only club willing to give him a decent contract.

At least he didn't demand ONE BILLION DOLLARS!!! Although, that would have been much more interesting ...